Measurement report stopping method and enodeb using the same

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides a method of requesting for a measurement report, comprising steps of: setting, in a request message, a first field for indicating an action on measurement to be stop and a second field including cell information for which a stop action on measurement is needed, so as to indicate a reporting eNB to stop measurement reports according to the second field; and transmitting to the reporting eNB the request message for the measurement report. The present disclosure also provides a requesting eNB using the above method, a method of stopping a measurement report by a reporting eNB and a reporting eNB using the above method, as well as a computer readable recording medium comprising computer instructions for executing the above methods.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to wireless communication field, andparticularly to radio network layer signaling procedures of a controlplane between two base stations.

BACKGROUND

In order to achieve better network performance, a self-optimized networkis necessary. For example, a load balance feature for the self-optimizednetwork needs resource status exchange between eNBs (eNodeBs).

In current X2AP (Application Protocol) specifications in 3GPP TS36.423:“Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); X2application protocol (X2AP)”, a Resource Status Reporting Initiationprocedure is introduced for resource status exchange between differenteNBs through X2 interface, and may be used by one of the eNBs to requestreporting of load measurements to another eNB. That is, it is possibleto setup a measurement report of certain information on a per cell basisby means of the Resource Status Reporting Initiation procedure.

In particular, the following types of load measurements information canbe set for periodic updating:

-   -   PRB Utilisation    -   TNL load Indication    -   HW (Hardware) Load Indication    -   Composite Available Capacity    -   ABS (Almost Blank Subframe) Status

A request message, e.g. a RESOURCE STASTUS REQUEST message, may be usedin the Resource Status Reporting Initiation procedure for both startingand stopping the measurement report of the above information.

As per the X2: RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message tabular in Table 1 thatis taken from TS36.423, in order to start a measurement reportingprocedure, a Registration Request IE (Information Element) shall be setin the RESOURCE STASTUS REQUEST message to a value “start”, while a listof types of load measurements information to be periodically reportedshall be outlined via a bit string in the Report Characteristics IE anda list of cells for which resource status reporting needs to be startedshall be specified in a Cell To Report Item IE.

TABLE 1 RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message defined in Section 9.1.2.11 ofTS 36.423 IE type and Assigned IE/Group Name Presence Range referenceSemantics description Criticality Criticality Message Type M 9.2.13 YESreject eNB1 Measurement M INTEGER Allocated by eNB₁ YES reject ID (1 . .. 4095, . . .) eNB2 Measurement C-ifRegistrationRequestStop INTEGERAllocated by eNB₂ YES ignore ID (1 . . . 4095, . . .) Registration MENUMERATED A value set to “stop”, YES reject Request (start, stop, . ..) indicates a request to stop all cells measurements. Report OBITSTRING Each position in the YES reject Characteristics (SIZE(32))bitmap indicates measurement object the eNB₂ is requested to report.First Bit = PRB Periodic, Second Bit = TNL load Ind Periodic, Third Bit= HW Load Ind Periodic, Fourth Bit = Composite Available CapacityPeriodic, this bit should be set to 1 if at least one of the First,Second or Third bits is set to 1, Fifth Bit = ABS Status Periodic. Otherbits shall be ignored by the eNB₂. Cell To Report 1 Cell ID list forwhich YES ignore measurement is needed >Cell To Report 1 . . . EACHignore Item <maxCel lineNB> >>Cell ID M ECGI — — 9.2.14 Reporting OENUMERATED YES ignore Periodicity (1000 ms, 2000 ms, 5000 ms, 10000 ms,. . .) Partial Success O ENUMERATED Included if partial YES ignoreIndicator (partial success success is allowed allowed, . . .)

In order to start reporting measurement of different information atdifferent times and/or for different cells, separate RESOURCE STSTUSREQUEST messages may be sent to a neighboring eNB.

However, in order to stop reporting of such load measurementinformation, the following mechanism is specified in the currentTS36.423:

The stop procedure is initiated with the RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST messagesent from a requesting eNB (called eNB1) to a receiving eNB (calledeNB2, for it is requested to report the load measurements, it is alsocalled reporting eNB). Upon receipt, the eNB2 shall stop all cellsmeasurements which have been started previously and terminate thereporting, when the received Registration Request IE indicates “stop”.

It should be noted that in the current TS 36.423, the Cell To Report IEis mandatory in the RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message, even if theRegistration Request IE is set to “stop”. What's more, the minimum valueof Cell To Report Item which is included in Cell To Report IE is 1 (see“1 . . . <maxCellineNB>” in Table 1) which indicates at least one cellID should also be included in Cell To Report IE. In case that the eNB2receives the Registration Request IE set to “stop”, the list of cellsincluded in Cell To Report IE is ignored by the eNB2.

The inventors notice that, according to the current stop procedure,since all cells measurements which have been started previously and areongoing should be stopped when the Registration Request IE is set to“stop”, any value included in the Cell to Report Item IE and/or Cell toReport IE will be ignored. As a result, the information, especially thecell list included in the Cell To Report IE, cannot be used to specify a“stop” action only targeting certain cells and information types of themeasurements.

Therefore, it is desired to provide an efficient approach forsufficiently utilizing specific IEs in the request message, in order tostop selected measurement reports for specific cells, which have beenstarted previously and are ongoing, according to the actual requirementsof the requesting eNB.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, a main object of the present disclosure is to provide aneffective an efficient approach for sufficiently utilizing specific IEsin the request message, in order to stop the measurement reports of someof cells which have been started previously and are ongoing, accordingto the actual requirements of the requesting eNB.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides an eNB, which maycomprise:

a receiving unit, configured to receive, from a first eNB, a requestmessage for a measurement report from the eNB, the request messagecomprising a first field for indicating an action on measurement and asecond field including cell information for which the action onmeasurement is needed;

a judging unit, configured to judge whether the action indicated by thefirst field is to start measurement or to stop measurement; and

a processing unit, configured to, when the first field indicates to stopmeasurement, stop measurement reports of cells according to the secondfield including cell information for which a stop action on measurementis needed.

Preferably, the judging unit is further configured to judge whether thesecond field is enabled to use the cell information included therein forthe stop action on measurement; and the processing unit is furtherconfigured to, when the first field indicates to stop measurement andthe second field is enabled, stop measurement reports of cellsidentified by the cell information in the second field, wherein thecells identified by the cell information in the second field is at leasta subset of all cells whose measurement reports are ongoing.

Alternatively, the judging unit is further configured to judge whetherthe second field is enabled to use the cell information included thereinfor the stop action on measurement; and the processing unit is furtherconfigured to, when the first field indicates to stop measurement andthe second field is disabled, stop measurement reports of all cellswhose measurement reports are ongoing.

Preferably, the judging unit is further configured to judge whether athird field for indicating information types of the measurement existsin the request message; and the processing unit is further configuredto, when the first field IE indicates to stop measurement, the secondfield is enabled and the third field exists, stop measurement reports,with respect to the information types identified by the third field, ofthe cells identified by the cell information in the second field,wherein the information types identified by the third field is at leasta part of all information types whose measurement reports are ongoing.

Alternatively, the judging unit is further configured to judge whether athird field for indicating information types of the measurement existsin the request message; and the processing unit is further configuredto, when the first field IE indicates to stop measurement, the secondfield is enabled and the third field is absent, stop measurementreports, with respect to all information types whose measurement reportsare ongoing, of the cells identified by the cell information in thesecond field.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides an eNB, comprising:

a setting unit configured to set, in a request message, a first fieldfor indicating an action on measurement to be stop and a second fieldincluding cell information for which a stop action on measurement isneeded, so as to indicate a second eNB to stop measurement reportsaccording to the second field; and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit, to the second eNB therequest message for the measurement report.

Preferably, the setting unit is further configured to set the secondfield to be enabled to use the cell information included therein for theaction on measurement, and set the cell information to identify cellswhose measurement reports are to be stopped by the eNB, according to anactual requirement of the eNB on the cells, so as to indicate the secondeNB to stop the measurement reports of cells identified by the cellinformation, wherein the cells identified by the cell information in thesecond field is at least a subset of all cells whose measurement reportsare ongoing.

Alternatively, the setting unit is further configured to set the secondfield to be disabled according to an actual requirement of the eNB onthe cells, so as to indicate the eNB to stop measurement reports of allcells whose measurement reports are ongoing.

Preferably, the setting unit is further configured to set, to exist inthe request message, a third field for indicating information types ofthe measurement, according to an actual requirement of the eNB on theinformation types, so as to indicate the second eNB to stop measurementreports, with respect to the information types identified by the thirdfield, of the cells identified by the cell information in the secondfield, wherein the information types identified by the third field is atleast a part of all information types whose measurement reports areongoing.

Alternatively, the setting unit is further configured to set in therequest message, no third field for indicating information types of themeasurement, according to an actual requirement of the eNB on theinformation types, so as to indicate the eNB to stop measurementreports, with respect to all information types whose measurement reportsare ongoing, of the cells identified by the cell information in thesecond field.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides an eNB, which maycomprise: a receiving unit, configured to receive, from a first eNB, arequest message for a measurement report from the eNB, the requestmessage comprising a first field for indicating an action on measurementand a third field for indicating information types of the measurement;

a judging unit, configured to judge whether the action indicated by thefirst field is to start measurement or to stop measurement; and

a processing unit, configured to, when the first field indicates to stopmeasurement, stop measurement reports, with respect to the informationtypes identified by the third field, wherein the information typesidentified by the third field is at least a part of all informationtypes whose measurement reports are ongoing.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of stoppinga measurement report, comprising steps of:

receiving, from a first eNB, a request message for a measurement reportfrom a second eNB, the request message comprising a first field forindicating an action on measurement and a second field including cellinformation for which the action on measurement is needed;

judging whether the action indicated by the first field is to startmeasurement or to stop measurement; and

stopping measurement reports of cells according to the second fieldindicating the cell information for which a stop action on measurementis needed when the first field indicates to stop measurement.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

judging whether the second field is enabled to use the cell informationincluded therein for the stop action on measurement; and

stopping measurement reports of cells identified by the cell informationin the second field when the first field indicates to stop measurementand the second field is enabled, wherein the cells identified by thecell information in the second field is at least a subset of all cellswhose measurement reports are ongoing.

Alternatively, the method further comprises:

judging whether the second field is enabled to use the cell informationincluded therein for the stop action on measurement; and

stopping measurement reports of all cells whose measurement reports areongoing when the first field indicates to stop measurement and thesecond field is disabled.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

judging whether a third field for indicating information types of themeasurement exists in the request message; and

stopping measurement reports, with respect to the information typesidentified by the third field, of the cells identified by the cellinformation in the second field, when the first field IE indicates tostop measurement, the second field is enabled and the third fieldexists, wherein the information types identified by the third field isat least a part of all information types whose measurement reports areongoing.

Alternatively, the method further comprises:

judging whether a third field for indicating information types of themeasurement exists in the request message; and

stopping measurement reports, with respect to all information typeswhose measurement reports are ongoing, of the cells identified by thecell information in the second field, when the first field IE indicatesto stop measurement, the second field is enabled and the third field isabsent.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of stoppinga measurement report, which may comprise:

receiving, from a first eNB, a request message for a measurement reportfrom a second eNB, the request message comprising a first field forindicating an action on measurement and a third field for indicatinginformation types of the measurement;

judging whether the action indicated by the first field is to startmeasurement or to stop measurement; and

stopping measurement reports, with respect to the information typesidentified by the third field when the first field indicates to stopmeasurement, wherein the information types identified by the third fieldis at least a part of all information types whose measurement reportsare ongoing.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method ofrequesting for a measurement report, comprising steps of:

setting, in a request message, a first field for indicating an action onmeasurement to be stop and a second field including cell information forwhich a stop action on measurement is needed, so as to indicate a secondeNB to stop measurement reports according to the second field; and

transmitting to the second eNB the request message for the measurementreport.

Preferably, the setting step further comprises:

setting the second field to be enabled to use the cell informationincluded therein for the action on measurement, and setting the cellinformation to identify cells whose measurement reports are to bestopped by the second eNB according to an actual requirement of a firsteNB on the cells, so as to indicate the second eNB to stop themeasurement reports of cells identified by the cell information, whereinthe cells identified by the cell information in the second field is atleast a subset of all cells whose measurement reports are ongoing.

Alternatively, the setting step further comprises:

setting the second field to be disabled according to an actualrequirement of a first eNB on the cells, so as to indicate the secondeNB to stop measurement reports of all cells whose measurement reportsare ongoing.

Preferably, the setting step further comprises:

setting, to exist in the request message, a third field for indicatinginformation types of the measurement, according to an actual requirementof the first eNB on the information types, so as to indicate the secondeNB to stop measurement reports, with respect to the information typesidentified by the third field, of the cells identified by the cellinformation in the second field, wherein the information typesidentified by the third field is at least a part of all informationtypes whose measurement reports are ongoing.

Alternatively, the setting step further comprises:

setting, in the request message, no third field for indicatinginformation types of the measurement, according to an actual requirementof the first eNB on the information types, so as to indicate the secondeNB to stop measurement reports, with respect to all information typeswhose measurement reports are ongoing, of the cells identified by thecell information in the second field.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer readablemedium having stored thereon computer executable instructions forperforming the above methods.

The technical solutions of the present disclosure may at least havebeneficial effects as follows:

1) The second field itself needs to be taken into consideration, whenthe first field in the request message is set to stop reportingmeasurement. Therefore, the second field should be used for indicatingwhether to use the cell information included therein for both stop andstart action on measurement, which was a redundant field in the legacyprocedure for stop action and now is sufficiently utilized for the stopmeasurement.

2) The current solution carries the drawback that measurements that arestill relevant shall be stopped only because some other measurements nolonger needed have to be stopped. Hence, measurements for which periodicreporting is still needed will have to be re-initiated, implying extrasignaling and disruption of functions that rely on such reporting. Inone of our embodiments, the measurement reports of specific cells whichare not needed anymore by the requesting eNB can be stopped by usingthis second field. Thus, the technical solution of the presentdisclosure may sufficiently use the current fields in the requestmessage for partially stopping the cells whose measurement reports donot need any longer due to the actual requirements of the requestingeNB. What's more, because another request for measurement procedure isavoided, continuity of the measurement report for the cells that arestill relevant may be kept well.

3) When the second field is disabled in stop action, it is no need toinclude any cell information in the request message, and the receivingeNB will stop all cells measurement reports once it find out the secondfield is disabled. In other words, a simple indication may be providedto stop measurement reports of all cells whose measurement reports havebeen started previously and are ongoing. Thus, signaling overhead can bereduced.

4) When the third field exists in the request message in stop action, itenables to stop the measurement report from the reporting eNB on a perinformation type basis according to actual requirements of therequesting eNB. This is more efficient and signaling overhead may bereduced, also the continuity of the measurement report for theinformation types those are still relevant can be kept well.

5) When the third field is absent in the request message, a simpleindication may be provided to indicates to stop measurement reports,with respect to all information types whose measurement reports areongoing, of the cells identified by the cell information in the secondfield, which can also save the signaling overhead.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects, advantages and characteristics of the present disclosurewill be more apparent, according to descriptions of preferredembodiments in connection with the drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) illustratively show exemplary scenarios 100 and 100′of E-UTRAN to which the present disclosure may be applied, respectively;

FIG. 2 illustratively shows a block diagram of a reporting eNB accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustratively shows a flow chart of a method of generating ameasurement report according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 illustratively shows a block diagram of a requesting eNBaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustratively shows a flow chart of a method of requesting for ameasurement report according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

It should be noted that various parts in the drawings are not drawn toscale, but only for an illustrative purpose, and thus should not beunderstood as any limitations and constraints on the scope of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure will be further described in detail by referringto the drawings and exemplary embodiments in order to make the objects,technical scheme and advantages of the present disclosure more apparent.In the description, details and functions which are unnecessary to thepresent disclosure are omitted for clarity. Although the presentdisclosure is exemplified in a scenario of E-UTRAN, the basic idea mayalso apply for any other communication systems in which measurementreport transmission is required between two base stations.

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) show exemplary scenarios 100 and 100′ of E-UTRAN towhich the present disclosure may be applied, respectively. In theexemplary scenario 100 as shown in FIG. 1(a), an eNB (eNodeB) 101 has aplurality of cells, such as Cell1 a, Cell1 b, Cell1 c. The eNB 101 mayneed to obtain measurement reports from specific cells of a neighboringeNB 102 which have a neighboring relationship with the cells in the eNB101. In the exemplary scenario 100, the eNB 102 also has a plurality ofcells, such as Cell2 a, Cell2 b. The Cell2 b of the eNB 102 is aneighbor of the Cell1 c of the eNB 101. Thus, it is beneficial for ameasurement report of the Cell2 b to be received by eNB 101, suchmeasurement report being initiated by a request message, e.g., aRESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message, sent from the eNB 101 to the eNB 102.

However, such a neighbor relationship may change with time. For example,the requesting eNB 101 may deactivate or change shape of cellsneighboring some of the reporting eNB 102's cells. In general, theneighbor relationship may change simply because propagation conditionschange with time. In the exemplary scenario 100′ as shown in FIG. 1(b),the Cell2 b may no longer be a neighbor of the Cell1 c. In this case,the eNB101 doesn't need to maintain a cell relationship with the Cell2b, and no longer need the measurement report from the Cell2 b of the eNB102.

In order to reduce amount of measurement information reported by the eNB102 and processed by the eNB101, the eNB101 may benefit from stoppingreporting from the Cell2 b.

As previously described, however, the current specifications specifythat the measurement report from all cells (Cell2 a and Cell2 b, in thisexample) in the eNB 102 shall be stopped. This implies that once loadmeasurement reporting of all cells is disabled, an extra signaling needsto be used to initialize another measurement reporting procedure for theload measurement of cells still relevant. Also, continuity of themeasurement report for the cells that are still relevant may be severelyaffected.

In addition, there are redundant IEs in the request message used for themeasurement report stopping procedure which is also unnecessarysignaling overhead.

In order to resolve the above deficiencies in the prior art, the presentdisclosure proposes a technical solution for partially stopping themeasurement report from the eNB 102 on a per cell and/or per informationbasis according to actual requirements of the eNB 101 more efficientlyand with a reduced signaling overhead.

The basic principle of the present disclosure consists in that in a casethat a first field for indicating an action on measurement in therequest message is set to “stop”:

-   -   the eNB 102 is requested to stop measurement reports of cells        according to a second field in the request message, the second        field indicating the cell information for which the stop action        on measurement is needed.

In particular, the eNB 102 is requested to stop measurement reports ofcells identified by the cell information in the second field when thesecond field is enabled, wherein the cells identified by the cellinformation in the second field is at least a subset of all cells whosemeasurement reports are ongoing; and to stop measurement reports of allcells whose measurement reports are ongoing, when the second field isdisabled.

-   -   the eNB 102 is requested to stop measurement reports, with        respect to the information types identified by a third field in        the request message, the third field indicating information        types of the measurement, wherein the information types        identified by the third field is at least a part of all        information types whose measurement reports are ongoing. If        there is no third field in the request message, the eNB 102 is        requested to stop all information types whose measurement        reports are ongoing.

It should be noted that the above two approaches of stopping measurementreports may be implemented in any feasible combination or separately.That is, the present disclosure proposes to use the second field forstopping measurement reports on a per cell basis, and/or to use thethird field for stopping measurement reports on a per information typebasis.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described indetail respectively from the perspective of a reporting eNB 102, inconnection to FIGS. 2-3.

FIG. 2 illustratively shows a block diagram of a reporting eNB102according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG.3 illustratively shows a flow chart of a method 500 of generating ameasurement report at the reporting eNB102 of FIG. 2 according to theexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 2, the reporting eNB 102 may comprise a receiving unit1021, a judging unit 1023 and a processing unit 1025. As will beunderstood by the skilled in the art, common components, such as atransmitting unit, in the reporting eNB 102 are omitted in FIG. 2 forsimplification, and the description thereof are also omitted here forsimplicity.

Hereinafter, the method 300 of generating a load measurement report atthe reporting eNB 102 of FIG. 2 will be described in detail withreference to FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, the method 300 may comprise:

-   -   Step S301, in which the receiving unit 1021 of the reporting eNB        102 receives, from the requesting eNB 101, a request message for        a measurement report generated by a processing unit of the        reporting eNB 102.

Generally, the request message comprises a first field for indicating anaction on measurement report, a second field including cell informationfor which the action on measurement is needed.

For example, the request message may be embodied by a RESOURCE STATUSREQUEST message in a Resource Status Reporting Initiation procedure, thefirst field may be embodied by a Registration Request IE in the RESOURCESTATUS REQUEST message, the second field may be embodied by a Cell ToReport IE in the RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message, the cell informationin the second field may be embodied by a Cell To Report Item IE and CellID IE in the Cell To Report IE, which may correspond to the provisionsin the 3GPP TS 36.423.

-   -   Step S303, in which the judging unit 1023 of the reporting eNB        102 judges whether the action indicated by the first field is to        start measurement or to stop measurement, and whether the second        field is enabled to use the cell information included therein        for the action on measurement.

As well-known by the skilled in the art, if the judging unit 1023 judgesthat the action indicated by the first field is to start measurement,the second field indicates to use the cell information (e.g. cell IDs)included therein for which the start action on measurement is needed bythe requesting eNB 101 according to the actual requirements of therequesting eNB 101; and the third field indicates information types ofthe measurement according to the actual requirements of the requestingeNB 101. Thus, the reporting eNB 102 generates a response message andstarts to report the measurements, with respect to the information typesindicated by the third field, of cells identified by the cellinformation (e.g. cell IDs) in the second field.

In the example where the third field is embodied by the ReportCharacteristics IE in the RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message, the ReportCharacteristics IE is a 32-bit string, in which currently there are fivebits indicating five information types (see Semantics description of“Report Characteristics” in Table 1). The information types that thereporting eNB 102 is requested to start reporting may be parts of theinformation types indicated by the five bits.

As we have described above, when exemplary scenario 100 in FIG. 1(a)changes to exemplary scenario 100′ in FIG. 1(b), there would be aspecific cell or cells (Cell2 b in this example) that the requesting eNB101 does not need the measurement report thereof any longer.

According to legacy procedure, reporting for all cells with allcorresponding types of measurement information previously started has tobe stopped at once. Then, extra signaling is needed to initiate anotherload measurement report procedure for the cells with corresponding typesof measurement information that eNB1 still needs.

According to the technical solution of the present disclosure, thereporting eNB 102 may receive a request message from the eNB 101, inwhich the first field in the request message indicates a stop action onmeasurement.

If the judging unit 1023 sends its judgment acquired in Step S303 to theprocessing unit 1025 that the action indicated by the first field is tostop measurement and whether the second field is enabled to use the cellinformation included therein for the action on measurement or not, themethod proceeds to a processing step, in which the processing unit 1025of the reporting eNB 102 stops measurement reports of cells according tothe second field in the request message, the second field containing thecell information for which the stop action on measurement is needed; andgenerate a response message.

In the processing step, the processing unit 1025 needs to take thesecond field into consideration. Therefore, in the scheme of the presentdisclosure, the second field is used for indicating whether to use thecell information included therein for the stop action on measurement,which is different from the current solution where the cell informationincluded in the second field is redundant and ignored.

The technical solution of the present disclosure sufficiently utilizesthe current field in the request message for partially stopping thecells whose measurement reports are no longer needed due to the actualrequirements of the requesting eNB 101, and meanwhile does not need anextra signaling to be used in order to initialize another measurementreporting procedure for the load measurement of cells that are stillrelevant, and thus continuity of the measurement report for the cellsthat are still relevant may be kept well.

There are at least two substituted approaches for stopping measurementreports of cells according to the second field.

In one implementation, the second field is always enabled to use thecell information included therein for the stop action on measurement.When the first field indicates to stop, the eNB 102 may stop measurementreports of cells identified by the cell information in the second field,wherein the cells identified by the cell information in the second fieldis at least a subset of all cells whose measurement reports have beenstarted previously and are ongoing.

In an example where the second field is embodied by the Cell To ReportIE in the RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message, and the cell information inthe second field is embodied by a Cell To Report Item IE and Cell ID(which can be considered as Cell list) in the Cell To Report IE, theRange of Cell To Report IE remains to be 1, which means Cell To ReportIE is still mandatory. In case the Registration Request IE is set to“stop”, the legacy structure of RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message doesn'tneed to be modified in this alternative approach, while the reportingeNB (eNB2) stops the load measurements on cells specified by Cell ToReport IE in the RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message and/or terminate thereporting of the specified cells. As such, the eNB 102 will stopmeasurement reports of cells identified by the Cell To Report Item IEand Cell ID, wherein the cells identified by the Cell To Report Item IEin the Cell To Report IE is at least a subset of all cells whosemeasurement reports have been started previously and are ongoing.

In this case, if the eNB 102 is requested to stop all cells whosemeasurement reports have been started previously and are ongoing, theCell To Report IE is required to indicate all of cell IDs whosemeasurement reports have been started previously and are ongoing.

If the eNB 102 is requested to report measurement of Cell A, Cell B andCell C previously, then a request to stop reporting measurement of CellA is sent from the eNB1, while measurement reports of Cell B and Cell Cremains ongoing. In another request to stop reporting measurement sentfrom the eNB1, the Cell To Report IE may indicate Cell B (partial stopof the measurement report, also subset of all ongoing measurement) orCell B and Cell C (all of the ongoing measurement report) in its Cell ToReport Item IE and Cell ID IE.

A specified instance includes the following steps:

-   -   eNB2 receives a first RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message sent from        eNB1 for initiating a first load measurement report procedure.)    -   In case that a Registration Request IE in the received RESOURCE        STATUS REQUEST message set to “start”, eNB2 starts to report the        load measurement according to the parameters given in the        request. For example, eNB2 starts periodically reporting to eNB1        with load measurements of Cell A and Cell B if Cell To Report IE        includes both Cell IDs (Cell A and Cell B) in Cell ID IE. A        first RESOURCE STATUS RESPONSE message is sent to eNB1 as well.    -   eNB2 receives a second RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message sent from        eNB1 for initiating a second load measurement report procedure.)    -   In case that a Registration Request IE in the second RESOURCE        STATUS REQUEST message set to “stop”, and a Cell To Report IE in        the second request includes only Cell ID of Cell A, eNB2 stops        to report load measurement on Cell A and continues to report        load measurement on Cell B. A second RESOURCE STATUS RESPONSE        message is sent to eNB1 as well.

Thus a “partial stop” function on a per cell basis of load measurementis introduced above. In addition, supposing eNB2 has been requested toreport ABS Status and Composite Available Capacity (specified by ReportCharacteristics) both for Cell A and Cell B in the first loadmeasurement report procedure, the second RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST messagerequests eNB2 to stop reporting ABS Status of Cell A, eNB2 continues toreport the two types of load measurement on Cell B and CompositeAvailable Capacity on Cell A. That is a solution for “partial stop”function on a per information basis.

Considering backwards compatibility, it is needed to ensureinteroperability of the legacy procedure and the improved one. It mighthappen that an eNB supporting partial stop (i.e. stop of measurementreporting on a per cell and/or per information basis) sends a RESOURCESTATUS REQUEST message including a partial stop to another eNB thateither does not support the partial stop function because it is a legacynode or it does not support the function because it isdisabled/not-activated. Here we add a new Information Element (IE) inthe RESOURCE STATUS RESPONSE message. The new IE can be named, e.g.“Partial Stop Response”, it can be optional with criticality “reject”and it may be encoded as an ENUMERATED (Partial Stop Successful, PartialStop Unsuccessful, . . . ). When a RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message issent by the requesting eNB aiming to stop a part of ongoing measurementreport, the receiving eNB (it's also the reporting node) can:

-   -   a. If partial stop is not supported because the receiving eNB is        a legacy eNB, the Partial Stop Response IE will not be included        in the RESOURCE STATUS RESPONSE message. The requesting node        will understand that the legacy node has stopped measurements        according to legacy procedures, i.e. all previously initiated        measurements will be stopped and those still needed will need to        be re-initiated.    -   b. If partial stop is not supported because the function is        disabled, the Partial Stop Response IE may be included in the        RESOURCE STATUS RESPONSE message and set to “Partial Stop        Unsuccessful”. It would be up to implementation to either stop        all measurement reports or continue as before.    -   c. If partial stop is supported then the Partial Stop Response        IE shall be included in the RESOURCE STATUS RESPONSE message and        set to “Partial Stop Successful”.

Alternatively, in another implementation, the second field may beenabled or disabled (which means optional) to use the cell informationincluded therein for the stop action on measurement. When the firstfield indicates to stop measurement reporting, and the second field isenabled to use the cell information included therein for the stop actionon measurement, the eNB 102 will stop measurement reports of cellsidentified by the cell information in the second field, wherein thecells identified by the cell information in the second field is at leasta subset of all cells whose measurement reports have been startedpreviously and are ongoing. Otherwise, i.e. when the first fieldindicates to stop measurement reporting, and the second field isdisabled to use the cell information included therein for the stopaction on measurement, the eNB 102 may stop measurement reports of allcells whose measurement reports have been started previously and areongoing. When the second field is disabled, there might be null forspecific cell information.

In the example where the second field is embodied by the Cell To ReportIE in the RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message, and the cell information inthe second field is embodied by a Cell To Report Item IE and Cell ID inthe Cell To Report IE, the second field being enabled is embodied to setthe Cell To Report IE to 1, which indicates that the cell IDs indicatedby the Cell To Report IE will be used for the stop action onmeasurement. As such, the eNB 102 will stop measurement reports of cellsidentified by the Cell To Report Item IE, wherein the cells identifiedby the Cell To Report Item IE in the Cell To Report IE is at least asubset of all cells whose measurement reports have been startedpreviously and are ongoing. When the second field is disabled, the Rangeof Cell To Report IE is set to 0, which indicates the eNB 102 needs tostop measurement reports of all cells whose measurement reports areongoing, no matter what is included in the Cell to Report Item IE orCell ID IE.

As shown in FIG. 3, if the judgment unit 1023 judges that the firstfield indicates to stop measurement and the second field is enabled inStep S303, the method may proceed to Step S3051.

-   -   Step S3051, in which the processing unit 1025 of the reporting        eNB 102 may stop measurement reports of cells identified by the        cell information in the second field and generate a response        message. It will be understood that the cells identified by the        cell information in the second field is at least a subset of all        cells whose measurement reports are ongoing.

Or, if the judgment unit 1023 judges in Step S303 that the first fieldindicates stop and the second field is disabled, the method may proceedto Step S3052.

-   -   Step S3052, in which the processing unit 1025 of the reporting        eNB 102 stops measurement reports of all cells whose measurement        reports are ongoing.

Therefore, the method 300 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure may stop the measurement report from the eNB 102 on a percell basis according to actual requirements of the eNB 101 moreefficiently with a reduced signaling overhead.

As previously described with reference to FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b), whenexemplary scenario 100 in FIG. 1(a) changes to exemplary scenario 100′in FIG. 1(b), there would be a specific cell or cells (Cell2 b in thisexample) that the requesting eNB 101 does not need the measurementreport thereof any longer. Furthermore, there might also be the need tostop specific measurement reporting, for example if in FIG. 1(b) ABSpatterns are enabled at Cell1 c in order to mitigate interference atCell2 b and if Cell2 b is no longer a mobility target of Cell1 c,measurement reporting of PRB utilization, TNL Load, HW Load, CompositeAvailable Capacity might not be needed, but measurement reporting of ABSStatus may still be needed.

In order to partially stop the information types whose measurementreports do not need any longer, the judging unit 1023 may further judgewhether a third field for indicating information types of themeasurement exists in the request message or not, according to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure,

In the example where the request message may be embodied by a RESOURCESTATUS REQUEST message in a Resource Status Reporting Initiationprocedure, and the third field may be embodied by a ReportCharacteristics IE in the RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message, which maycorrespond to the provisions in the 3GPP TS 36.423.

The third field may be used, in order to stop the measurement reportfrom the eNB 102 on a per information type basis according to actualrequirements of the eNB 101. In this embodiment, the method 300 of thepresent disclosure may further comprise Steps S307˜3091/3092 which aremarked by a dotted-line block in FIG. 3, meaning that those steps areoptional:

-   -   Step S307, in which the judging unit 1023 judges whether the        third field exists in the request message, the third field        indicating information types of the measurement.

If the judging unit 1023 judges that the third field exists in therequest message, the method may proceed to Step S3091.

-   -   Step S3091, in which the processing unit 1025 of the reporting        eNB 102 may stop measurement reports, with respect to the        information types identified by the third field, of the cells        identified by the cell information in the second field, when the        first field IE indicates to stop measurement, the second field        is enabled and the third field exists. It will be understood        that the information types identified by the third field is at        least a part of all information types whose measurement reports        are ongoing.

Or, if the judgment unit 1023 judges that the third field is absent inthe request message, the method may proceed to Step S3092.

-   -   Step S3092, in which the processing unit 1025 of the reporting        eNB 102 stops measurement reports, with respect to all        information types whose measurement reports are ongoing, of the        cells identified by the cell information in the second field.

Therefore, the method 300 according to this further embodiment of thepresent disclosure may stop the measurement report from the eNB 102 onboth a per cell and per information type basis according to actualrequirements of the eNB 101 more efficiently with a reduced signalingoverhead.

The above embodiments of the present disclosure respectively describethe scheme of stopping the measurement report from the eNB 102 on a percell basis separately and the scheme of stopping the measurement reporton both a per cell and per information type basis. Nevertheless, it willbe appreciated that the measurement report can also be stopped on only aper information type basis.

In this embodiment, the judging unit 1023 judges whether the first fieldin the request message indicates to stop measurement, and whether thethird field exists in the request message. The processing unit 1025stops measurement reports, with respect to the information typesidentified by the third field, of the cells whose measurement reportsare ongoing, when the judging unit 1023 judges that the first fieldindicates to stop measurement and the third field exists.

When the judging unit 1023 judges that the first field indicates to stopmeasurement and the third field is absent, the processing unit 1025stops measurement reports, with respect to all information types whosemeasurement reports are ongoing, when the judging unit 1023 judges thatthe first field indicates to stop measurement and the third fieldexists.

As will be understood by the skilled in the art, although the judgingoperations of the judging unit 1023 in the eNB 102 on the first, secondand third fields are performed in different steps in the exemplarymethod as shown in FIG. 3, the present disclosure is not limited tothis. For example, the judging operations on the first, second and thirdfields may be also performed in a single step simultaneously, or infeasible orders. For example, in the implementation of judging all ofthe three fields in a single step, the processing unit 1025 may stopmeasurement reports according to the judgment result of the threefields, similar with steps S3052, S3091 and S3092. Also, it can beunderstood by the skilled in the art that the methods herein to triggera partial stop are not only applicable to the information currentlyavailable for periodic reporting, but can be extended to any informationthat will be introduced in the future and that is reported periodicallyor a-periodically. Any of reasonable possibilities, which are not apartfrom the concept of the present disclosure and could be contemplated bythe skilled in the art, will fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described indetail respectively from the perspective of a requesting eNB 101, inconnection to FIGS. 4-5.

FIG. 4 illustratively shows a block diagram of a requesting eNB101according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG.5 illustratively shows a flow chart of a method 500 of requesting for ameasurement report at the requesting eNB101 of FIG. 4 according to theexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 4, the requesting eNB101 may comprise a setting unit1011 and a transmitting unit 1013. As will be understood by the skilledin the art, common components, such as a receiving unit for receiving aresponse as well as a requested measurement report, in the requestingeNB 101 are omitted in FIG. 4 for simplification, and the descriptionthereof are also omitted here for simplicity.

Hereinafter, the method 500 of requesting for a measurement report atthe requesting eNB101 of FIG. 4 will be described in detail inconnection with FIG. 5. It will be recognized that the method 500 ofrequesting for the measurement report at the requesting eNB101 issubstantially corresponding to the method 300 of generating ameasurement report at the reporting eNB 102 according to request fromthe requesting eNB 101, as previously described in detail. Somerepetitive descriptions are omitted for simplicity here.

Still with reference to the exemplary scenario in FIG. 1(b), therequesting eNB 101 does not need the measurement report of specificcells (Cell2 b in this example) any longer. Thus, the setting unit 1011in the requesting eNB 101 may set the request message for the reportingeNB 102 to partially stop measurement report of the specific cells.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the requesting eNB 101 intends to stop themeasurement reports of some of cells which have been started previouslyand are ongoing, the method 500 may comprise:

-   -   Step S501, in which the setting unit 1011 of the requesting        eNB101 may set, in a request message, a first field for        indicating an action on measurement to be stop and a second        field including cell information for which a stop action on        measurement is needed, so as to indicate the reporting eNB 102        to stop measurement reports according to the second field; and    -   Step S503, in which the transmitting unit 1013 of the requesting        eNB101 may transmit, to the reporting eNB 102, the request        message for the measurement report.

In particular, the Step S501 performed by the setting unit 1011 of therequesting eNB101 may further comprise: setting the second field to beenabled to use the cell information included therein for the action onmeasurement, and setting the cell information to identify cells whosemeasurement reports are to be stopped by the eNB, according to an actualrequirement of the eNB 1010 on the cells, so as to indicate the eNB tostop the measurement reports of cells identified by the cellinformation, wherein the cells identified by the cell information in thesecond field is at least a subset of all cells whose measurement reportsare ongoing.

Alternatively, the Step S501 performed by the setting unit 1011 of therequesting eNB101 may further comprise: setting the second field to bedisabled according to an actual requirement of the eNB 1010 on thecells, so as to indicate the eNB to stop measurement reports of allcells whose measurement reports are ongoing.

Therefore, the method 500 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure may request to stop the measurement report from the eNB 102on a per cell basis according to actual requirements of the eNB 101 moreefficiently with a reduced signaling overhead.

Furthermore, in order to stop the measurement report from the eNB 102 ona per information type basis according to actual requirements of the eNB101, the setting step of the method 500 according to a furtherembodiment of the present disclosure may further comprise: setting, toexist in the request message, a third field for indicating informationtypes of the measurement, according to an actual requirement of the eNB101 on the information types, so as to indicate the eNB 102 to stopmeasurement reports, with respect to the information types identified bythe third field, of the cells identified by the cell information in thesecond field, wherein the information types identified by the thirdfield is at least a part of all information types whose measurementreports are ongoing.

Alternatively, the setting step of the method 500 according to thisfurther embodiment of the present disclosure may further comprise:setting, in the request message, no third field for indicatinginformation types of the measurement, according to an actual requirementof the eNB 101 on the information types, so as to indicate the eNB tostop measurement reports, with respect to all information types whosemeasurement reports are ongoing, of the cells identified by the cellinformation in the second field.

Therefore, the method 500 according to this further embodiment of thepresent disclosure may request to stop the measurement report from theeNB 102 on both a per cell and per information type basis according toactual requirements of the eNB 101 more efficiently with a reducedsignaling overhead.

It will be appreciated that embodiments of the present disclosureaccording to the claims and description in the specification can berealized in the form of hardware, software or a combination of hardwareand software.

Any such software may be stored in a computer readable storage medium.The computer readable storage medium stores one or more programs(software modules), the one or more programs comprising instructions,which when executed by one or more processors in an electronic device,cause the electronic device to perform a method of the presentdisclosure.

Any such software may be stored in the form of volatile or non-volatilestorage such as, for example, a storage device like a ROM, whethererasable or rewritable or not, or in the form of memory such as, forexample, RAM, memory chips, device or integrated circuits or on anoptically or magnetically readable medium such as, for example, a CD,DVD, magnetic disk or magnetic tape or the like. It will be appreciatedthat the storage devices and storage media are embodiments ofmachine-readable storage that are suitable for storing a program orprograms comprising instructions that, when executed, implementembodiments of the present disclosure.

Accordingly, embodiments provide a program comprising code forimplementing apparatus or a method as claimed in any one of the claimsof this specification and a machine-readable storage storing such aprogram. Still further, such programs may be conveyed electronically viaany medium such as a communication signal carried over a wired orwireless connection and embodiments suitably encompass the same.

The present disclosure may sufficiently utilize the current fields inthe request message for partially stopping the cells and/or theinformation types whose measurement reports do not need any longer dueto the actual requirements of the requesting eNB 101, and on the otherhand, does not need an extra signaling to be used in order to startanother reporting procedure for the load information of the cells and/orthe information types that are still relevant, and thus continuity ofthe measurement report for the cells and/or the information types thatare still relevant may be preserved.

The above is only the preferred embodiments of the present disclosureand the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments.Therefore, any modifications, substitutions and improvements to thepresent disclosure are possible without departing from the spirit andscope of the present disclosure.

1. An evolved Node B (eNodeB), comprising: a processor and a computerreadable storage medium coupled to the processor, the computer readablestorage medium including: a receiving unit, configured to receive, fromanother eNodeB, a request message for a measurement report from theeNodeB, the request message comprising a first field for indicating anaction on measurement and a second field including cell information forwhich the action on measurement is needed; a judging unit, configured tojudge whether the action indicated by the first field is to startmeasurement or to stop measurement; and a processing unit, configuredto, when the first field indicates to stop measurement, stop measurementreports of cells according to the second field including cellinformation for which a stop action on measurement is needed.
 2. TheeNodeB according to claim 1, wherein the judging unit is furtherconfigured to judge whether the second field is enabled to use the cellinformation included therein for the stop action on measurement; and theprocessing unit is further configured to, when the first field indicatesto stop measurement and the second field is enabled, stop measurementreports of cells identified by the cell information in the second field,wherein the cells identified by the cell information in the second fieldis at least a subset of all cells whose measurement reports are ongoing.3. The eNodeB according to claim 2, wherein the judging unit is furtherconfigured to judge whether a third field for indicating informationtypes of the measurement exists in the request message; and theprocessing unit is further configured to, when the first field indicatesto stop measurement, the second field is enabled and the third fieldexists, stop measurement reports, with respect to the information typesidentified by the third field, of the cells identified by the cellinformation in the second field, wherein the information typesidentified by the third field is at least a part of all informationtypes whose measurement reports are ongoing.
 4. The eNodeB according toclaim 2, wherein the judging unit is further configured to judge whethera third field for indicating information types of the measurement existsin the request message; and the processing unit is further configuredto, when the first field indicates to stop measurement, the second fieldis enabled and the third field is absent, stop measurement reports, withrespect to all information types whose measurement reports are ongoing,of the cells identified by the cell information in the second field. 5.An evolved Node B (eNodeB), comprising: a processor and a computerreadable storage medium coupled to the processor, the computer readablestorage medium including: a receiving unit configured to receive, fromanother eNodeB, a request message for a measurement report from theeNodeB, the request message comprising a first field for indicating anaction on measurement and a third field for indicating information typesof the measurement; a judging unit, configured to judge whether theaction indicated by the first field is to start measurement or to stopmeasurement; and a processing unit, configured to, when the first fieldindicates to stop measurement, stop measurement reports, with respect tothe information types identified by the third field, wherein theinformation types identified by the third field is at least a part ofall information types whose measurement reports are ongoing.
 6. A methodof stopping a measurement report, comprising: receiving, from a firstevolved Node B (eNodeB), a request message for a measurement report froma second eNodeB, the request message comprising a first field forindicating an action on measurement and a second field including cellinformation for which the action on measurement is needed; judgingwhether the action indicated by the first field is to start measurementor to stop measurement; and stopping measurement reports of cellsaccording to the second field indicating the cell information for whicha stop action on measurement is needed when the first field indicates tostop measurement.
 7. The method according to claim 6, furthercomprising: judging whether the second field is enabled to use the cellinformation included therein for the stop action on measurement; andstopping measurement reports of cells identified by the cell informationin the second field when the first field indicates to stop measurementand the second field is enabled, wherein the cells identified by thecell information in the second field is at least a subset of all cellswhose measurement reports are ongoing.
 8. The method according to claim7, further comprising: judging whether a third field for indicatinginformation types of the measurement exists in the request message; andstopping measurement reports, with respect to the information typesidentified by the third field, of the cells identified by the cellinformation in the second field, when the first field indicates to stopmeasurement, the second field is enabled and the third field exists,wherein the information types identified by the third field is at leasta part of all information types whose measurement reports are ongoing.9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: judging whethera third field for indicating information types of the measurement existsin the request message; and stopping measurement reports, with respectto all information types whose measurement reports are ongoing, of thecells identified by the cell information in the second field, when thefirst field indicates to stop measurement, the second field is enabledand the third field is absent.
 10. A method of stopping a measurementreport, comprising: receiving, from a first evolved Node B (eNodeB), arequest message for a measurement report from a second eNodeB, therequest message comprising a first field for indicating an action onmeasurement and a third field for indicating information types of themeasurement; judging whether the action indicated by the first field isto start measurement or to stop measurement; and stopping measurementreports, with respect to the information types identified by the thirdfield when the first field indicates to stop measurement, wherein theinformation types identified by the third field is at least a part ofall information types whose measurement reports are ongoing.
 11. TheeNodeB according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit is furtherconfigured to, when stopping the measurement reports of the cellsaccording to the second field succeeds, send a message to the othereNodeB, a response message indicating success.
 12. The eNodeB accordingto claim 1, wherein the judging unit, further configured to judgewhether the second field is disable or not; and the processing unit isfurther configured to, when the first field indicates to stopmeasurement and the second field is disable, stop measurement reports ofall cells.